Blog and Paintings

I don't remember when I watched Nicolas Cage act with such grace and aplomb - with such smoothness and dexterity. May be I haven't watched many movies by him - but this one - 'Lord of war' just blew me over - made me think and write this blog. The movie is good in many aspects - acting, dialogues - extraordinarily dialogues - that urges one to pause the scene and read the subtitles over and over. Beautiful narration... Last time I heard such beautiful narration in a movie - was Shawshank Redemption. Can't help but keep bringing Shawshank Redemption again and again whenever I talk about movies.

Anyways, this movie was a different one - unraveling the dirty world of arms trading... Mostly the way rich nations - the Government and powerful people in the army are manipulated to meet the demands from backward and poorer countries - where people engage in killing each other - without realizing that the real beneficiaries are not them - but others behind an endless dark screen.

The small parties, freelancers, renowned business men who exploit loopholes in system, processes and morality of tight salaried officials - make merry against a gray background of bloodshed, futile vengeance, empty killing of innocent lives.

What emerges from such a gory scene is something very intense - a series of questions that implode in the soul of the main character - that triggers him to think what is right? what is wrong? what should be done? what shouldn't?

While these questions are powerful enough to change the path of many people - who sway away from morally corrupt people, and wrong deeds but those who thrive - somehow find a way of getting over all these compunctions.

How? Well you might have to watch the movie - and I would rather be cautious not to reveal the entire plot - spoiling the suspense. I won't do that. What I will do is share that single piece of message that hit me strongly.

The secret of survival is "NEVER ENTER IN A WAR. THAT TOO NOT WITHIN ONESELF"

My interpretation is different from the context of the movie. I won't patronize any immoral action at any cost - and would recommend to pursue something that doesn't harm the society. In other words it is important to get the ladder leaning to the right wall and then start climbing. Because if the wall is wrong, however well you might climb, the outcome is going to be bad because you will end up being on the wrong wall.

For me survival is living prosperously. Living a life of abundance. And the opposite is death. So someone who is fucked up and lives a miserable life - is actually not existing. And how do you make sure that you live a life of abundance, growth and prosperity? By creating a niche and being good at it, of course! And that is another topic altogether.

I have seen many people - who have achieved success and also those who haven't. Who have been successful in life and those who have failed and lead miserable lives. One common trait in those that continue to exist - I mean continue to prosper are those that don't waste energy in negative emotions, thoughts and feelings. When we are cursing somebody and thinking about all badness in them, we are emptying out tank of fuel that could help us travel miles in the right direction. By burning our fuel in futile manner we exhaust ourselves and fail to rise up. As a result our own condition keeps taking deeper dives into anger, frustration, jealousy and so on. We get fucked up. We look fucked up. All fucked up people look fucked up because they are always in war - firing bullets and getting hit all the time. In a war - one thing is for sure - both sides end up losers. It's only a matter of time. So why enter a war?

When arguments become hostile and corrosive, it's better to take one step back. It's wise not to throw venom with equal intensity. It's prudent to let the other person win the battle. Because these battles are mere distractions. These battles and wars need to be avoided at any cost in order to survive.

NEVER ENTER A WAR. THAT TOO NOT WITHIN YOUR OWN SELF! Not within your own self - means too much of doubts, guilty feelings and lack of faith will not allow you to perform your action to the best of your ability. You have to focus - in order to achieve something good and for that you have to be in peace with yourself and not be in war with yourself. If I am working in Java and my heart is with Oracle Database administration, then I am always thinking about Oracle Database while coding in Java and that kind of conflict holds me back. So I have to be in peace with myself knowing fully well that Java is going to be my niche! And I am going to be good at it!